More than 180 applicants have been awarded grants for down payments on homes in a home-buying program started about a year ago as part of a settlement between banks and the Department of Justice, it was announced recently. Grant funding totaling $4.3 million remains available. Grants of $30,000 each through the NeighborhoodLIFT SM program are available to Los Angeles County residents who earn no more than 120 percent of the median income for the area, plan to stay in their home for five years, and participate in a buyer education program with a HUD-approved a counselor.

The nonprofit NeighborWorks America worked with the city of Los Angeles and Wells Fargo to create the program and have given out $5.4 million to aspiring home owners, as well as another $1.5 million to after school, gang prevention, community health and economic development programs in the city.

“Thanks to Wells Fargo’s generous grant donations and community programs, Angelenos from San Fernando to San Pedro can own their own piece of the city and help to revitalize their neighborhoods,” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

“While no single program will ever reverse the effects of the country’s foreclosure crisis, we’re proud to continue doing our part to support the recovery by helping promising home-buyers achieve ownership success in a sustainable and responsible way,” said John Sotoodeh, Wells Fargo’s Los Angeles region president.

The home-buyer assistance program in Los Angeles region was first rolled out in 2012 and will expand to the Inland Empire this year. Wells Fargo has funded $89.9 million in down payments and $11.8 million toward counseling, education and program support in 20 different locations across the country hardest hit by the 2008 housing crash and subsequent financial crisis.